Orange Is The New Black – Backstory Review

I hope by now everyone has finished watching Orange is the New Black, because I’m finally ready to talk about it. Since season 2 was chock full of goodness, I’m going to split this review into two parts.

Season 2 captivated audiences with colorful back-stories of many of our favorite characters. With all the shenanigans that happen inside the prison, one tends to forget that these ladies had lives before. So let’s get into it shall we.

Poussey Washington’s backstory

I think Orange is the New Black made history in episode 6 by having the most sex scenes ever shown when revealing Poussey’s backstory. Anywho, we find out Poussey was a military brat, whose family was stationed in Germany. Poussey falls in love with her father’s German officer’s daughter named Franzika. Are you following me? Later in the episode they head over to Franzika’s house to make love. Her father walked into her room and they both cowered under the sheets. Poussey’s father informs her the next day that their family will be transferred back to the United States. Poussey breaks the news and tries to convince her lover that they can make their relationship work. Franzika’s heart became cold (I’m sure with the help of her father). In a final attempt to fight for love, Poussey walked into the restaurant where Franzika and her father were eating dinner and demanded that her family stay in Germany. Franzika’s father rudely dismissed Poussey; she then attempted to pull a gun from the back of her pants. Poussey’s father catches her in the nick of time and holds her as she weeps in his arms.

First of all, was anyone else blown away at how beautifully Poussey spoke German? Give that girl an Oscar! Secondly, I am mad that this episode did not explain how she ended up in jail. I mean based on this storyline, one can assume that she got messed up in some Bonnie and Clyde (I mean Claudia) type of situation, but they already gave that storyline to Miss Rosa (which I will get into in a minute). For all we know Poussey could have gone back to the United States and pissed on the outside of the German Embassy. Your guess is as good as mine tell me what you think.

Miss Rosa’s Backstory

Mmm mm mmm Miss Rosa was “loving the crew”. In episode 8, we discover that when Rosa was younger she was in a bank robber quartet with 3 other men. One of those men, Marco, was her husband. For good luck, they would passionately kiss before and after the heist. Well, this time Marco got shot and died. Then Rosa married Anthony, who was also a part of the original quartet, now they are a trio. The same thing happened, she passionately kissed him before the bank robbery and afterwards he died from a heart attack. Finally this trio is now a duo and she’s in a relationship with Don. He was not into the tradition of kissing before the heist and they actually pulled off a successful bank robbery. High off of endorphins, she wants to rob another bank. Don tries to talk her out of it but she doesn’t listen. She gets caught and he survives. She believes this is because she did not marry him.

Hmmmm…

Moral of the story is: Chase your dreams harder than you chase money, because if you only chase after money you will never have enough. Don told her that they had enough money to do or go wherever they wanted but unfortunately she wanted more. Secondly, try not to date or marry multiple people in your circle especially if your friends are up to no good. Although it was nice to know her back-story, it only explained the wallet stealing seen at the hospital. Did she know she had cancer at a young age and that’s why she wanted the money? Or did she find out later on in the prison? If so, how did everyone around her react? Let me know what you guys think.

Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren’s Backstory

By far one of the best written characters on this show. In episode 3, we witnessed a young Suzanne and her wonderful adopted parents rejoicing in the after-glow of their newborn. “Hello Grace” she said in her fairy costume and beautiful Afro. “I’m your best friend and your big sister”. Suzanne became uncontrollable when her parents did not allow her to hold the baby. A nurse came by and calmed her down while putting Bantu knots (aka “China Bumps” aka “Zulu Nots”) in her hair. Crazy Eyes’ mental illness and hairstyle followed her into adulthood.

Unfortunately they did not tell us what she did to end up in prison. But if I had to guess, I think Crazy Eye’s was attending college and obtained a pivotal role in a Shakespeare play. During opening night, she was so prepared for her role that she accidentally killed one of her co-actors instead of pretending. Because she suffers from a mental disability they decide to put her in jail instead of giving her the death penalty. Lol That’s a stretch, let me know what you guys think.

Gloria’s Backstory

Gloria’s past consists of being in an abusive relationship with a man who was not the father of her children, with whom she gave multiple chances too. While working at a convenience store (which I believe she owned), her mother was in the back practicing Christian Voodoo (never heard of this BTW) and helping clients in the back of the store. One client in particular was upset with the Mother because his good luck was not coming in at the pace he wanted. This client witnessed Gloria partaking in some “creative financing” at her store. At the peak of Gloria’s abusive relationship, her man tries to kill her in the back of the store. As she runs out the store, the police are outside. Relieved, she believes that the cops were there to save her; when in fact the angry client snitched on her for illegal practices inside of her business.

Her situation is really unfortunate but it explains how she knows different “spells”, how she became a mother figure to Dayanara, and just an all around bad-ass in the prison. That’s all I really have to say about that.

For the sake of time, I am not going to discuss Cindy, Sister Jane or Lorna’s Backstory (unless you really want me too) in this post. Talk to me, who was your favorite and least favorite backstory to watch? To me, my favorite was Crazy Eyes and my least favorite to watch was the Nun (Sister Jane). I just feel her storyline was lukewarm in comparison to everyone else’s.

In the next two posts I’ll dive into the dynamic relationship between Vee, Tasty and Crazy Eyes. Then I will conclude by discussing the trifling love rectangle between Piper, her ex girlfriend, her ex fiancé and best friend and how I felt about the ending of the season.